Inmate accused of choking gets 5 more years

An inmate accused of choking a teenage prisoner at the Springfield jail three years ago has struck a plea deal which will keep him behind bars for at least five more years.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150128/NEWS02/701289931

Dakota Gardner will spend at least another five years in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to the 2012 choking of a fellow inmate at the Springfield jail. At right is public defender Jordana Levine. Photo: PHOTO BY ERIC FRANCISPublished January 28, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Inmate accused of choking gets 5 more years By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — An inmate accused of choking a teenage prisoner at the Springfield jail three years ago has struck a plea deal which will keep him behind bars for at least five more years. Dakota Gardner, 24, of Springfield, pleaded guilty Tuesday in White River Junction criminal court to a felony count of aggravated assault. That was reduced from the original charge of attempted first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to serve eight to 15 years, with credit for the time during which he has been jailed since the attack in April 2012. State’s Attorney Michael Kainen called the outcome “a lenient sentence under the circumstances,” given that victim Ryan John would have died had it not been for the intervention of guards. But Kainen said John supported the plea agreement. The prosecutor said he spoke to John, a sex offender who is still serving time at the state prison in Newport, before agreeing to the plea agreement. “They were close friends,” Kainen told Judge Karen Carroll. “According to Mr. John, they were almost like brothers. They had been in the (juvenile and adult correctional) system together for a long time.” Kainen said John felt some responsibility for the incident, having said things to Gardner prior to the assault that he “probably should not have.” Prison guards said at the time of the attack that Gardner told them he lured John into his cell by claiming to be interested in a sexual encounter. Guards became suspicious when the cell’s window was blocked, and said they found John on the floor with a pullover and a blanket tied so tightly around his neck that his face “was purplish and blue in color,” and he had no pulse. As guards freed John and performed CPR, they said, Gardner said he’d “killed” John for being a sex offender. Gardner said he’d done “the world a favor,” according to court records. Corrections Officer Michael Arace wrote in his report that Gardner was upset when John began breathing again, and said that if the hospital managed to save John’s life, he would try to kill him again. Gardner’s criminal history dates to 2009 when, as a teenager himself, he was convicted of felony aggravated assault in Brattleboro. He then became the subject of state and federal investigations for mailing threats to President Barack Obama and Gov. Peter Shumlin. Some of Gardner’s communications contained threats to bomb a federal building in Rutland, court records state. During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, defense attorney Jordana Levine said, “He has a year and four months left on his federal sentence, and then that will be followed by three years of supervised release. But with this sentence, even with the credit, he will have to serve five years and three months more before he is eligible for release on his minimum in Vermont.” Asked by the judge what psychological treatment programs he’d participated in to date, Gardner said, “I’ve done some anger management groups. I’ve done some other mental health groups. Since I’ve been back (in Vermont), I really haven’t done anything because I’ve been in segregation the whole time. But I do, at some point, plan to try to get into more mental health programs and hopefully finish getting my (high school) diploma.” Carroll replied, “I would suggest to you that you take whatever opportunity is offered to you to get into any kind of programming. Otherwise, I foresee you back here again.”